Roses
by KTrevo
Summary: Dick leaves Zatanna out in the cold, but it's entirely justified. Some Valentine stuff for you people with a happy ending thrown in.


**This just came to me as I was cleaning the bathroom- random, I know. I wanted to do a Valentine's Day fic, and I absolutely **_**adore **_**Dick\Zatanna, so this was the result. I'm actually pretty happy with it. I jacked my mum's laptop to upload this, because the backlight in the other one is lower than the backlight of my iPod when the iPod is as low as possible- I can't see anything on the screen.**

**Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue. I'll never own Young Justice, and neither will you.**

**At least, not unless you fall into some incredible good luck.**

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><p>Roses<p>

Zatanna Zatara stands in the cold February weather, flurries of snow swirling through the air on barely-there breaths of wind. She's standing halfway in her pockets, mostly because she's cold and she's berating herself for forgetting to wear some mittens that are actually warm instead of her starched white magician's gloves.

There are couples everywhere on the New York streets, holding hands and flowers and chocolates and kissing and walking totally absorbed in each other. She sees a glimpse of white and her heart jumps a bit, thinking that it might be Greta come to visit, but then she thinks it's probably just an eddy of snow swirling around the alleyways.

Her father's gonna kill her when she gets home, she knows that much. It probably won't be as bad as if she was waiting in Gotham, because Robin talked her out of it. Now she can die in the comfort of her own home, not the frigid streets of Gotham City.

Her nose and cheeks are probably as red as the tuque on her dark hair, maybe a little pinker, but she promises herself fifteen more minutes before she heads back home. She'd pegged the Boy Wonder as a punctual person, but this isn't even fashionably late anymore.

She supposes she could head to Happy Harbour, because M'gann invited her to the team's Valentine's Day party, but she doesn't think she'll be able to stand the bubbly personality of her friend at the moment. Not now that she's been stood up by the one guy she actually sort of likes that her father might possibly approve of.

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><p>It's thirteen minutes, fifty three seconds later (not that she's counting) that her phone buzzes in her pocket. She pulls it out and fumbles with it until she can manage to hit the button with her cold fingers. She presses the plastic to her ear and deadpans "Magic morgue- you kill 'em, we stuff 'em, no questions asked. How may I be of assistance?"<p>

There's a wet sort of laugh-slash-sob on the other end. "Za-zatanna? It's Artemis. Ca-can you get to the Cave?"

"Artemis?" The magician's suddenly worried. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"R-rob-" The archer on the other ends starts sobbing. Zatanna feels the blood leave her cold face. Another voice comes on, and it sounds like Wally's in a daze. "Shh, Arty. He'll be fine. Zee, can- can you come to the Cave?"

She's already running towards the Zeta tube. She can see the fog from her breath dissolve and she shouts apologies over her shoulder to people she runs into. She's starting to think that Robin might have a pretty decent excuse for not showing up.

She doesn't think she'll ever get used to the feeling of having her molecules dissolved and remade in the space of a few seconds or less. It always leaves her tingly and slightly queasy, even though it comes in handy when she wants to dry off quickly.

She stumbles out of the tubes and almost runs straight into Red Arrow, who's standing there looking a bit out of it. Kaldur's pacing, Conner is holding a sobbing M'gann and Wally and Artemis are curled up on the couch. They barely look up as she makes her entrance.

She sees Superman float in from the hallway she thinks the med bay is located in, and she jogs right up to him, taking in his worried face and feeling her heart drop to around where her belly button is. "Superman? What happened? What's going on?" she's annoyed at the desperation in her voice.

The Kryptonian takes a deep breath and she hears him say "The mission went south. There was an explosion and Robin saved everyone's lives. He was caught in the building and was close to dead when Kid Flash found him. He was unconscious. Batman was able to resuscitate him and he's getting him stable now."

Zatanna covers her mouth with her hands and doesn't resist as Superman pulls her into a hug.

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><p>It's really only an hour or so later, but Zatanna feels like it's been days. Wally and Artemis haven't moved, and she tried not to find it funny that it took Robin being severely hurt for the two of them to get together.<p>

All sounds of sobbing and pacing stop when Batman walks in. Zatanna's heard stories of the fearsome Daddy!Bats from Robin and Wally, but she's never seen him up close. The first words are directed to her. "You had no part in this mission, so I have no need for you here. Robin is in the med bay, room 4."

She tries not to sprint to his room, but she does anyway. The door slides open almost as soon as she stops and she steps in, the dim lights clicking on. Her hands are shaking and she puts them in her jeans pockets to try and quell them. He's lying on the hospital gurney, an oxygen mask on his face, hooked up to several different machines Zatanna thinks she knows the names of but can't be sure. Batman must have removed the mask, because his glasses are on.

She can see bandages disappearing under the stark white sheets. As she creeps closer, his head moves a bit and he moves his hand sluggishly to remove the plastic mask. A low groan escapes him and she quietly pulls up a chair.

"Hey," she whispers.

He coughs weakly before answering with a small smile. "Sor-sorry I stood you- stood you up."

She takes his hand, gently rubbing circles on his knuckles. "I think you have a pretty good excuse this time around."

He smiles. "Your pres-present is on the table over there. Sorry- sorry it's not- not much."

She sets the oxygen mask back on his face before she lets go of his hand and walks across the sterile room. On a smallish metal table is a single red rose. She grins at the note and looks back at the boy on the bed. His soft snores reach her ears and she reads the note again.

_With any luck, next year I'll be able to give this to you personally- do I really need to tell you what it means?_

_-Rob._

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><p><strong>SEVEN YEARS LATER<strong>

"Really, Dick? You're wearing _that_ tie?"

The dark haired man manages to look indignant with a grin. "What? It's the only red tie I have."

"Van Halen, though? I could turn one of your blue or green ones red." She tightens said tie, pecking him on the lips as she does so.

"You're jealous, Zee. You're jealous that my taste in music is way better than yours."

She lets out a laugh. "If you say so, Wonder Bread. _Telracs ni em sserd_!"

She turns to the mirror to inspect her dress. The white rose on her left hip contrasts beautifully with the scarlet dress and matches the diamond hanging around her neck. The necklace was a gift from Dick when she graduated.

He presses a kiss to her neck from behind, wrapping a strong arm around her waist. "You look gorgeous, Zee. Here's part of your valentine." A red rose comes up in front of her and he presses one last kiss to her cheek. "Happy Valentine's Day. And I'm not the Boy Wonder anymore, 'member?"

She summons a vase, takes his hand and leads him to the expensive restaurant.

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><p>On the way in, they pass Barbara and her husband Sam. They would have stood and talked, but their reservation was for seven and Barbara and Sam had to get going.<p>

She thinks she spots Bruce and Diana over in the corner, but she could be mistaken. Dick's brother Jason is over by the windows with his longtime girlfriend Stephanie.

Their waiter leads them to a table that's pressed up against the wall, a vase of flowers resting on top. They both order salads, hers Greek, his of the Caesarian variety.

The food is good, but that goes without saying- it is a five star restaurant, after all. Only the best for the co-owner of Wayne Industries, she supposes. Not that he ever goes to the office. That's Bruce's job. Dick prefers being a cop.

Dessert is rich cheesecake, the stuff that has little chocolate hearts on top for the holiday. She watches his eyes, how they light up when she laughs at something he says, how they dance when she talks about how M'gann is going crazy planning Artemis and Wally's wedding for them, how they shine with pride when he talks of how good Tim's getting as Robin, when she says _anything_.

She's just swallowed her last piece of cheesecake when she has a thought. "You said my rose was only part of my valentine. What's the other part?"

Without a word, he flashes a smile and slides a small black velvet box across the table. She hasn't even opened it yet and there are tears in her eyes as she nods furiously. Her finger fumble with the box and a platinum band with a simple diamond, flat enough that it fits under her gloves without much issue. On the inside, he's gotten engraved _Do I really need to tell you what it means?_

She laughs ecstatically and pulls him into a kiss across the table. She knows he's relieved, which is irrational because there was never any doubt Megan would say yes to Conner, Artemis said yes to Wally (that surprised everyone), Jade left the Shadows to marry Roy, Kaldur and Donna are getting along great and Batman _actually_ asked Wonder Woman to marry him. There was no way Zatanna'd say no.

Even though her father might just murder Dick because she's sure Dick didn't ask him for her hand in marriage. Giovanni's old fashioned that way.

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><p><strong>Happy Valentine's Day! <strong>

**I have neither a boyfriend nor a life, so this is my valentine to all you people out there.**

**Your valentine to me can be a review!**

**Just no flames, please. I have a headache and don't really want to deal with them right now. And if anyone feels the urge to write a super long review pointing out **_**every single one **_**of my mistakes, don't even bother.**

**First reviewer gets a request!**

**And yeah, the cameos are totally from my own head. I'm a diehard Bruce\Diana fan, Jason's cool, Tim is amazing, Barbara just wedged herself in there with the DA from Batman Beyond, Steph was a total accident. Donna Troy's just there because I thought Kaldur needed a girlfriend.**

**This was four pages long. Be happy.**

**Oh, and as for the tie, my dad has one like that. I'm pretty sure it's the album cover for **_**The Best of Both Worlds. **_**It's my favourite tie that he has.**


End file.
